Hello Everybody,

Well, I ended up being transferred. I am now serving in the Alexandria 2nd ward with Elder Van Dyke who is an awesome missionary.  It has been a fun few days.  I, for sure, was sad to leave everyone in Sterling, especially since I had only been there for 3 months or so. I was excited for the change.  I actually really got to know my companion and came to understand him but it was for sure a hard transfer for me. I was busy doing a lot of the work on my own at times.  Elder Van Dyke and I are the Zone Leaders in the Alexandria Zone which has added some additional and unusual things to our week.

Well, to start, we had a new area that was opened up in our zone. It turns out that nobody was really aware that it was going to happen and one of the Elders had a TON of stuff.  We tried to find a ride for them home but everyone else was pretty full. So we had to leave them at the building, drive to our place, put my stuff inside, drive back, get all his stuff in the car and find their apartment. It was alot of driving and manuvering to make it work. Nevertheless, it was fun to get to know those missionaries and to help them as much as we could! We also had to drive 2 missionaries to baptismal interviews at really interesting places. That also added to our craziness of driving everywhere!

The next day, we had to finish our moving palooza which took a few more hours. Then, we had an appointment with a man named Solomon, who actually got baptized on Saturday! That is a good way to enter a ward! Haha But we went to that and then had enough time to finally do some work.  Saturday was insane!! That morning, the ward was having a picnic, so I got to meet people and to help serve them which was great for me. Then, the baptism was at 2 o'clock and the service was very good. After that we cleaned up there and rushed to the mission office to grab some things and to talk with President. After we left there, we had to go back because we had forgot something. When we walked in, President Riggs was on the phone with someone and motioned for us to wait until he was done.  He explained that someone was in need of a blessing and he asked us to help him. We drove to the Hospital where the man, who was a former missionary here, was and we gave him the blessing.  Tons of Pressure! Haha But it went great and it was fun to have been with President Riggs during that time. He is a special guy.

I have heard that it was very hot back home so that was probably nice to escape up north.  That all sounds like you had fun. This week for us will be crazy.  First, we have our zone meeting, so I am nervous about that.  Also, we have MLC ( Mission Leader Conference), which goes for about 7 hours on Wednesday. Then on Friday, we are doing a Half Mission Conference which I think is to help motivate and inspire us.  Nobody really knows what it is all about!  On Saturday night, we are attending the Nationals Game for the day to serve. Elder Van Dyke is a big baseball guy so it will be fun to be with him for the game. Lots to report on next week.  Love you so much dad. Be safe and enjoy the last week or so of Summer.

Love,
Elder Westover